Indiana Jones reaches for an artifact in a scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. (Photo: Paramount)
Digging Into Indiana Jones Blu-Rays
Creators talk about adventure series at Skywalker Ranch
Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures (Photo: Paramount)
SAN FRANCISCO — Indiana Jones is one of the most popular movie characters of all time. Through four movies over more than 30 years, Indy (as his fans call him) has taken moviegoers on dangerous, thrilling adventures in search of the Lost Ark, mystical Sankara stones, the Holy Grail, and a crystal skull.
On Tuesday, all that and more comes home in high definition as all four Indiana Jones movies arrive on the Blu-Ray video format.
Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures is a five-disc set that's packaged in a book-like case. The packaging features artwork, posters, and behind-the-scenes photos for each movie. And all the movies are here: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Raiders has been completely restored. Restorationists touched up each frame of the movie, cleaning it and fixing any damage on the original negative. Additionally, Temple of Doom and Last Crusade have been remastered. The set also comes with a disc packed with seven hours of bonus features.
The Indiana Jones movies are iconic, and they have created lasting memories for both the audience and the moviemakers. Some of the people who helped bring Indiana Jones to life spoke about their experiences at the Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures press day in August at Skywalker Ranch in California.
Dennis Muren, who currently holds the position of Creative Director at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), recalls a time when he got to step in front of the camera for one of the films.
"[I] actually got to act as a spy in one little sequence in Raiders of the Lost Ark," Muren said. "It was the weirdest experience from being behind the scenes to being in front of a camera with Spielberg looking right at me!"
Academy Award-winner Ben Burtt of Skywalker Sound has worked on the Star Wars films as well as the Indiana Jones series. "There's a story with every sound," Burtt said.
He recalls the time when the whole team went to Disneyland to record sounds of the rides. They did this to get just the right sound for the mine cart chase scenes in Temple of Doom.
"We got to go on all the rides by ourselves when the whole park was closed at night. We would go on all the roller coasters like Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, turn off all the music, turn on all the lights and just record the whooshing and shrieking sound," Burtt said.
But Burtt and his team looked beyond sounds that already existed, too. Unlike other movies at that time, the sound department decided to create their own custom library of Indiana Jones sounds.
"Actually, before Skywalker Ranch was built, we used all the grounds of this area to create the sound," Burt said. "The acoustics here really fit and this is where we recorded Indy's gun shots and explosions and everything."
Now, thanks to the new Blu-Ray set, you can relive all that excitement found in the Indy movies like never before!
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